SEOUL (Reuters) - Land reclamation in South Korea is taking
a heavy toll on shore birds by destroying the habitat that once
served as a main source of food to sustain their global
migration, a study released on Tuesday said.

South Korea completed its Saemangeum land reclamation
project on its west coast in 2006. It covers an area of 400
square km (155 sq miles) -- about seven times the size of
Manhattan.

"All shore bird species that formerly staged there
regularly have been affected, and most species have shown
declines," said the study from Birds Korea and the Australasian
Wader Studies Group.

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Migratory birds traveling between Russia and Alaska in the
north to New Zealand and Australia in the south congregate for
refuelling stops at Yellow Sea tidal flats to feast on
shellfish and other food.

"The whole of the Yellow Sea is an amazing crossroads for
migratory shore birds," said Nial Moores, a British-born
conservationist and director of Birds Korea.

Among the species most affected at Saemangeum are the Great
Knot, which numbered about 88,000 in mid-May 2006 but fell to
about 3,500 a year later, and Bar-Tailed Godwit, the study
said.

The groups in 2006 started a three-year survey on the
number of shore birds at Saemangeum and adjacent sites.

The loss of tidal flats had also hurt water quality in the
area and led to mass deaths of marine animals, the study said.

South Korea, now one of the world's largest economies,
launched its reclamation project decades ago to increase its
farm land when it was trying to rise from the ashes of the
1950-1953 Korean War.

The government has said it is trying to develop other shore
areas for the migratory birds.

A separate study in May said migratory shore birds are
starving and at least two species face extinction due to the
reclamation project that has removed one of the largest feeding
grounds on the Yellow Sea for 400,000 birds that pass a year.